


The Professionals

by anactoria



Category: Sherlock (TV), Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Thieves, Crossover, F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-18
Updated: 2014-01-18
Packaged: 2018-01-09 04:08:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1141231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anactoria/pseuds/anactoria
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's hard to keep your mind on the job when Irene Adler's giving the orders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Professionals

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this](http://fyeahsherlockfemslash.tumblr.com/post/73624032276/maluslupu-s-the-woman-and-the-thief) post on Tumblr. Unbetaed; feel free to prod me with any mistakes.

Bela sets down her tray of canapés and takes one last look around the lighted hall. Glittering chandeliers and glittering cocktail dresses; the hum of civilized chatter inching gradually louder; black-and-white-clad servers moving efficiently and unobtrusively amid the moneyed throng. And, most importantly, all of the guests too full of champagne to notice one little maid slipping quietly through the wrong door.

The clumpy black sensible shoes that came with her uniform echo on the bare floor of the corridor, and she toes them off once she’s around the corner and out of sight, dumping them behind an oversized potted fern. The rest of the ensemble is ridiculous—schoolgirl-short skirt with a frilly white apron, and a little hat like something from SexyHalloweenOutfits.com—but there’s no time to deal with that right now. She has a job to do.

Second door on the right, straight through with her stolen passkey, and, “You took your time,” says the smooth voice in her ear.

And Bela’s on edge as the job requires her to be, senses strung to a high pitch of alertness, adrenaline thrumming in her veins, but she can’t quite keep the smile off her lips as she murmurs, “Good evening to you too, Miss Adler.”

“Mind on the task at hand, Bela.” _That’s for in private_ , unspoken but clearly audible.

There’s an affectionate exasperation in it, and Bela smirks as she inches along the corridor. “Are you questioning my professionalism?”

A low chuckle in her ear. “Never. But I’m well aware I have a certain… effect on people.”

“Now who hasn’t got her mind on the job?” Bela teases.

“That _is_ my job,” Irene points out, but then the gears shift and she’s all business. “The hard drive is kept in a safe two floors up. Once you have it, there’s a balcony two doors down that’s accessible only from inside the building. It overlooks the back of the house; you should be able to get down without being seen.” 

Irene’s voice is low and focused now, a note of command in it that would filter through Bela’s veins like an opiate, if she let it; make the edges of her mind go fuzzy with the urge to let go and float away. Sometime, she’ll tell Irene that that’s more dangerous than any kind of flirting.

But not right now.

Bela blinks hard to clear her head, ducks back into an alcove as the shadow of a patrolling guard passes the end of the corridor. “The next pass is in fifteen minutes,” she tells Irene. “Plenty of time. Have Kate waiting for me with the car.”

“Of course.” Irene’s voice drops a little, then, something gentler in it. “Be careful.”

“Oh, _please_ ,” says Bela, but below the rapid beat of her pulse in her ears, her mind racing through memorised schematics and possible contingencies, she feels something warm.

 

\----

 

Before she leaves, Bela slips out of the maid’s uniform, leaving her in the unobtrusive, skintight black that will help her get away unobserved. She balls up the skirt and the apron and the absurd cap in her free hand, glancing around for a wastepaper bin.

In her ear, the sound of Irene clearing her throat. “Don’t even think about it,” she warns. “You’ll be needing that.” The command there is deliberate, this time; a promise, unfurling something coiled tight in her.

Bela closes her fingers around the hard drive, lets the glow of accomplishment take light in her, buoy her up as she vaults the balcony railing. 

She’s earned her reward.


End file.
